If you’re like most of us, if you have a great experience that provides you with great memories, generates life-long friendships and leads to happiness and success in your own life, you want others to be able to enjoy those same benefits. That’s certainly how Ira Riklis and his wife Diana feel about their days in graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his degree from the Wharton School of Business; she earned hers from the Graduate College of Education. Both schools are highly regarded in their fields. Wharton has launched countless students towards rewarding careers. And the GSE is considered one of the nation’s premier research education schools.
Blessed with success they credit in no small measure to their graduate experiences, Ira Riklis and Diana have been more than happy to give back to their schools so that students today can enjoy the same high-quality education they received years ago. Much of their support has gone to the GSE (Wharton, after all, has many highly successful graduates willing and able to give generously to it). Over the years, they’ve funded three scholarships, term professorships, a student lounge and various facilities such as a new Dean’s office.